A person suffering from asthma and experiencing an asthmatic attack may have rather considerable difficulty in breathing, due to swelling in the bronchi and due to secretion of mucus. There are various antiasthmatic pills that are effective but which generally are somewhat slow-acting. There are also medications available for intravenous treatment which work quite rapidly, but which require administration by skilled medical personnel. For most asthmatic sufferers, the promptest, immediately available relief is by way of an inhalant. Epinephrine or other suitable asthmatic medication is packaged with a suitable diluent in a small pressurized canister or cartridge which interfits with a mouthpiece. The patient places the mouthpiece in his mouth, and depresses the cartridge, thereby releasing a measured amount of medication which is inhaled through the mouthpiece.
Some patients do not inhale properly, and the mouthpiece may not be completely effective in cooperation with the cartridge to convert the medication into a mist which is deposited in the proper bronchial area to relieve the asthmatic attack. Often there are small droplets of medication, rather than a mist, and this may be compounded by improper inhalation which results in much of the medication simply going into the throat and stomach where it is ineffective against the asthmatic attack.
In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 4,470,412 mentioned above, a cylindrical chamber is provided which has at one end a plastic or an elastomeric adapter which receives the mouthpiece of the cartridge device. The opposite end of the cylindrical chamber is provided with a mouthpiece or equivalent, and a one-way valve in the chamber adjacent the downstream or mouthpiece end precludes back-flow upon exhalation by the person suffering the asthmatic attack. Passage of the medication through the chamber completes formation of the medication released into the desired mist.
Some sufferers tend to inhale too strongly. This can cause leakage of air into the chamber, and resulting dilution of the medication. This is undesirable. It also possible that medication would be drawn through the bronchi too rapidly, thus not having an opportunity to deposit and take effect in the proper areas. Inhalation should be at a controlled rate so that substantially all of the medication will be effective in the alveolus, and not carried into the bronchi tree where it does not do any good. Although inhalation by a person suffering from an asthmatic attack may be difficult panic may nevertheless be such as to cause inhalation that is too rapid.